162 Back to School

The rest of my winter break went on as usual. Loriana was able to stay home starting the very next day of her team dinner until the start of the next semester of schooling. Every morning, when I wake up, I would take everything at an extremely slow pace as there was nothing that I needed to rush about. After taking care of my morning routine of brushing my teeth and washing my face, I would lazily meander into the living room from the bathroom while still dressed in my sleeping wear as there really was no point in changing out of them. Besides, nothing is more comfortable than waking up one winter morning and relocating to the couch and hide underneath the bed cover that is kept there for warmth.

I find myself dozing off on some mornings, but I would be awakened by Loriana's presence when my head would fall on her shoulders. I opened my eyes in a confused manner, teetering about on the fence that separated the state of slumber and the state of being awake. It was quite difficult for me to distinguish which was the true reality as, for some reason, the dreams that I've been having lately has become quite hard to distinguish from reality.

When I would feel the warmth of Loriana's body on the side of my face, I would subconsciously be drawn to her even more and would lay down my head entirely on her lap as I wrapped myself up with the bed covers.

Overall, winter break was pretty relaxing for me. I was able to spend my time with Loriana as my company while recovering from the stress that I had accumulated over the semester. Contact between the group has been quite minimal with the most activity being the comments everyone made about my appearance on the live stream with Irina. Other than that, we didn't talk about much or even met up with each other. Christmas passed and there was nothing much except for a simple greeting in the group chat. New years passed and there was nothing much except for a simple greeting in the group chat. Basically, nothing much was actually happening. I'm not sure about whether or not the others were able to meet up and spend time together, but I was pretty much up to my own devices over the break.

The night before school began, I sat on my bed as I stared at my school bag that was untouched ever since the beginning of the break. In my mind, I recounted all the hassles that I must endure again until the beginning of spring break. Everything was just so annoying that it overcrowded my mind to the point that I fell limp with my back against my bed as I stared at the ceiling. There really wasn't much except melancholy for me at the moment as there was nothing much that I am looking forward to. School was simply extremely annoying.

However... for some reason, my mind would wander to the thought of Luna. I do not understand why but... I just think of her from time to time when I look out the windows and at the snowy world outside. Maybe it's because it reminded me of her name Frostblume, a flower that only blooms in the winter and quickly fades away when spring begins... Maybe it's the fact that her life is nearing its end, but... well, it's just that probably. She'll be dying soon, but... there's still time left. We most likely have until the advent of summer, so... I guess I will be making up all the time lost in winter break during spring break then.

It's weird really, like I don't understand it myself when I look back on it. But... I feel like I've actually changed quite a bit. I'm surprised that I am actually... looking forward to being able to spend time with Luna. Like it doesn't matter if she's dating anyone, as my sole responsibility does not involve any romantic feelings. Rather, it's more of a simple companionship where I will watch her until she rests in her grave.

With a mysterious smile on my face, I turned off the lights in my room using my phone and rested my head on the soft, downy pillow and turned on my side, facing the direction of the wall. The tiny spot before me... it was the spot she had laid on when she stayed the night. Even though it's been weeks, I still feel like I could smell her scent lingering about on my pillows.

Maybe it's not that bad of a thing that school is starting again. Well, it's because school is the only place that I will be able to see her again. Not only that, the general atmosphere of being around the others, Loyd with his overly charismatic character, Zaksus with his easy-going nature, and Noah with his loud and obnoxious personality, for some reason I no longer find them entirely annoying anymore.

Then there are the girls. Tomorrow, Muria will once again be waiting before the door to the elevator as usual. We wouldn't say anything to the other person, maybe aside from a simple greeting, but nothing else will stem from that conversation. She will treat me coldly, but that's fine with me as I'm acclimated to it already. As for Irina...what happened that night really was quite rude on my part. I'll apologize to her, and hopefully, she'll forgive me. Then there's Luna, who I'll be able to once again accompany her with my presence. It doesn't even have to be right next to her as well as I am entirely content with a spot in the shadows.

As for the teacher duo of Mura and Emilia... Well... they're a special case. Mura's a nice person and all, but sometimes she's really frightening to me. If Muria is a queen, then Mura is the Empress. She just has the sense of authority that no one else could surpass with every word she says and action she does holding with it a message that no one dared to disobey. Then there's Emilia. As an angel of God, she's simply so mysterious. However, it would appear that the garden within her as slowly lost its color and been a bleached white...

Come to think of it, my perspective on them all has changed quite a bit. No longer do I feel like spending time with them is a nuisance. However, that does not mean I will actively invite them. I still treasure my alone time. What I mean is that if I am invited and I don't see a reason that I would decline, I would usually accept an invitation as it was no longer annoying to me. It's actually quite interesting to think that this transformation of me all began with this stupid Socialization app. It's what led to me slowly being introduced to everyone else.

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock on my phone, and without hitting snooze, I forced myself up from my bed, yawned, and rubbed my eyes. I slowly walked over to the bathroom with great fatigue in my system and proceeded to complete my morning routines. After those were all finished and I had shared a breakfast with Loriana, I started for school.

Like I had anticipated the night before, Muria was standing before the closed elevator doors as she waited for the elevator. Without saying anything, I walked over and stood at a small distance from her and waited as well.

"Good morning," she said to me as I expected and I returned the greeting.

Then, all went back to usual. When we walked down the chilly streets of Palisia with the road freshly shoveled of snow, the frost woke me from my drowsy state and forced me into the reality of the world with its piercing nature. I huffed out a mist of white air as I shivered and wrapped my muffler scarf closer to my neck. I am actually quite impressed that girls could actually deal with the cold while wearing skirts with only high socks as the only protection their legs had against the cold. Like I am really impressed with how they're able to accomplish that.

At school, things went on like they did before break had started. The only difference for me was that I received more attention than before due to my appearance on that live stream that almost all of my classmates watched. It was quite annoying, but I guess when compared to what Irina had to deal with, it's really nothing.

Talking about Irina, when I saw her in the classroom this morning, I was initially quite worried that things wouldn't be alright between us due to what I did. However, I was greeted with what I presumed to be the usual greeting as she smiled when I entered the room. It was quite weird though as I felt that something was off with her smile and it just bothered me. However, there really isn't much that I can do at the moment about it. When I have time to speak with her in private, I will apologize for my behavior and explain it all to her. Hopefully, she'll understand.

Everyone else appeared to be their usual selves as well. The day went on like nothing had occurred for us as we all just picked up right where we had left off before the break. However, there was an additional topic of gossip which was how Loyd and Luna started dating. I'm not curious or anything, but when they speak about it so loudly in the clubroom, one cannot simply just block out all that noise.

Speaking of Luna, she's yet to show up to the clubroom despite it being an hour after school had ended session. Maybe she's out with her other group of friends again, but... I still wanted to make sure as for some reason I feel as if my day wouldn't be complete without seeing her. Therefore, I excused myself from the clubroom and made my way towards the faculty office in search of information.

"You're asking about Luna?" Mura up from the winter homework that she was grading. "That's rather odd. You asking about someone."

"Well..." I started feeling somewhat nervous and feel beads of sweat forming on my forehead despite it being a rather chilly temperature in the faculty office. "People do change."

"I suppose," Mura smiled. "I guess there's no real harm telling you. She's hospitalized."

"W-what?" I simply whispered as I was still unable to process and comprehend a hundred percent of what I was just told.